Who in the world that pays any attention to college football could type the following, read it, and still convince themself that it should be posted on the internet?

Will Harbaugh still be the coach by then? Keep your eye on the game against Ohio State at noon on November 25. If the Wolverines lose that one (again), Harbaugh might just be given his walking papers, even if he's 11-1. Common sense tells us to never underestimate the delusional arrogance of Michigan fans.

Nothing that could realistically happen this year would lead to Michigan firing Harbaugh, much less if Michigan is 11-1 with the only loss being to an Ohio State team that figures to be in the playoff discussion again.

What a complete moron. He did get one thing right though - ND wishes they could play us this year. Come next year, they'll be breaking in a new coach in game one against a fully weaponized Michigan team.

Don't care if our division is tougher, I want to be in the same division as Ohio State. Any issue with being in the tougher division is more than outweighed by the possibility of playing them two weeks in a row and losing the significance of The Game.

Hayes looks super skinny and Mayfield is 255 lbs. I get that they may be great prospects that you want in the fold long-term, but at those weights it seems they are unlikely to be able to contribute as freshmen. On top of that, I keep hearing tackles are a huge priority for this recruiting class. So if we end up taking commitments from these two, I guess that means the coaches are comfortable with where things are at for tackles next year? Seems strange given the general uneasiness re the readiness of tackles that will be on the roster this year (and the impending graduation of Cole).

Was enamored with the Fab Five as a young teenager. Generally watched The Game each year and enjoyed seeing them ruin Ohio State's season each year during the Cooper era, but wasn't a full-blown fan at that point. Fandom took off a bit during the Woodson/Heisman/Championship season. Strangely enough, it really took off when Tressel came to Ohio State. Never realized how much I hated Ohio State and loved Michigan until they started beating us each year. At this point Michigan football and men's basketball are the only sports that consistently hold my interest - can't really watch much of the NBA other than during the playoffs (and really only during the conference and NBA Finals) and have no real interest in the NFL.

Tried to validate my status as a M fan by going to law school there, but ended up in NYC instead. People here in Texas sometimes have a hard time understanding why I would be a fan of a school that I didn't attend (although most assume that I did go to M because they know I'm a big fan). My standard answer to such people about why I became a fan is that "I have family that went to Michigan and I grew up rooting for them." Truth is, the only family I know of that went there is my great grandfather, but that's close enough for me. Regardless, I'm a diehard fan now and doing my best to raise my kids to be fans too.

Seriously, they killed OSU and then broke Bama's heart. Yeah, we wish it was us that did those things, but if not us, we should show proper gratitude and respect for the team that did it. Someone start a Clemson appreciation thread.

I'm as hopeful as anyone that Ruiz comes in ready to play (and that Kugler is ready to go for next year), but it seems unlikely to me that someone who started 19 games for Florida would be scared of our O-Line depth chart based on those two. Neither of them is a proven player at the college level, whereas his replacement apparently performed well.

Much prefer he stay out there than go to C-bus. And for his sake, USC seems like a much better choice than UCLA (where he was rumored to be headed for a long time). I seem to remember he had some very strong family connection at UCLA - wonder how that goes over when he chooses their biggest rival.

is listening to Michigan fans go crazy about every loss as though the program's entitled to win every game. I'm as disappointed that we didn't get 11 wins this year as any other Michigan fan (mostly that win 11 didn't come against Ohio State), but some of the comments on postgame boards are ridiculous. This team had some tough losses this year, but was still very good - two of their losses were on the road to top 10 teams by a grand total of four points, the other was a one point loss on the final play of a road night game against a ranked team. They could have won all of those games, and probably should have won two of them. They beat everybody else convincingly (including two top ten teams and a good Colorado team). Nobody wins them all every year, even when they are loaded with talent. Alabama didn't win every game last year, and neither did Ohio State - even though both of them were significantly more talented than every team they played. Michigan was not significantly more talented than every team they played this year - they won ten games because they have Harbaugh running the program. We had more than our fair share of bad bounces this year. I'm grasping at straws to remember and significantly favorable bounces in any of the big games, but yet we were still on the cusp of an 11 or 12 win season. It could have gone better, but anyone who suggests that Michigan isn't a program on the rise under this coaching staff is delusional, and anyone who thinks we were entitled to be on top this year (despite some obvious deficiencies in certain position groups) is even more delusional.

But at least we got DPJ. Would much rather lose an out-of-state 5* OL to Georgia than an instate 5* anything to Ohio State. I know that sentiment arguably doesn't take into account what the biggest needs are for next year's team, but sometimes hatred trumps rationality. Plus, there seems to be a consensus that OL are hard to project (and that IW has a steep learning curve and may not have been able to help next year anyway).

Just my two cents. Still basking in the glow of DPJ's commitment. Not going to get too down about this one.

"I'd go so far as to assert that Ohio State should not get in over Penn State. If Washington, Clemson, PSU, and Bama win their title games the playoff should be Bama, Clemson, Washington, and Penn State, in that order."

Presumably, you think PSU over OSU because they beat OSU, and therefore if Wisconsin wins you think OSU should be in? Doesn't that logic mean that regardless of who wins the B1G championship, M should be in? They beat both PSU and Wisconsin, after all.

that get to suffer the indignity of having Rutgers consider you their rival. Who knew that there is at least one Rutgers fan that thinks they are not only rivals with us, but also with PSU, MSU and OSU? Unbelievable.

I personally love his response about the guarantee he made as a player. You have to believe that guarantee and his subsequent delivery on it makes Ohio State fans hate him all the more, but he doesn't even give them the satisfaction of thinking that he considered it a great feat. "It was a long time ago." "I don't remember much about it." I bet every Ohio State fan that saw it remembers it very well.

Not that I don't believe he doesn't remember much about it - he very well may not. But this still seems like the perfect response to get under their skin, while at the same time not giving them anything that could be used as bulletin board material.

First time in Iowa City for a game (although I lived there as a young child). Taking my three oldest kids with me. Flying in to Omaha on Friday (cheapest flight from Dallas with points). Tickets are in Section 108. Looking forward to a beatdown!

Would have loved to see Peppers play for 3 years. On the other hand, year one was under Hoke - so seeing his talent wasted would likely have been a major downer. Also, he might have won a few more games for Hoke, in which case Hoke may have lasted another year, forcing us to see his talent wasted for two years (in addition to never having Harbaugh). *shudders*

I appreciate the effort, but on further reflection, I'm not going to change the title. FWIW, I think your first suggestion misstates the question. The second suggestion nailed it, and is admittedly more clear than what I came up with. At this point, however, changing the title of the post for the second time only invites comments about the title changes, which doesn't improve the thread.

The question is whether you would take the bad with the good (i.e., both get in regardless of what happens, or only the winner), not "do you still want M to have a chance to win it all if we lose in Columbus?"

My gut reaction was that I definitely want Ohio State out if they lose to us, even if that means we're out if we lose to them. But I wanted to think it through more thoroughly before posting about it. In my mind, the analysis of the different scenarios confirmed that taking the position of extreme hatred for Ohio State is not only what I do naturally, but also what is rational as a Michigan fan.